| MISS | Regret the absence of a young woman (4) |
| BEER | Might it taste better in the absence of a teetotaller? (4) |
| BANE | Precious ___"; novel by Mary Webb about the life of a young woman born with an orofacial cleft (clef |
| BALL | "I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done." She was at the center of the TV show I Love Lucy. |
| MISTRESS | Regret the absence of embracing very French inamorata (8) |
| SUNG | Legal "reed" anagram arrival, in short luck, position of or importance heel of wood in ? regret the loss of? : I'll pay the bill? wine |
| VOID | One wearing very old dress, originally, in absence of a suit |
| RUES | Regrets the ways of the French? (4) |
| BABYSITTER | A person who looks after a young child at home in the absence of a parent or guardian (4,6) |
| ROUX | Reportedly regret the soup thickener (4) |
| RULE | About fifty regret the regulation (4) |
| SURE | Regrets the sort of certainty expressed |
| MISSED | Noticed the absence of a girl and a boy (6) |
| NEAREST | Like the relatives most likely to inherit in the absence of a will, probably |
| STEREO | Recording effect of Easter's start falling late, in the absence of a full moon (6) |
| REGENT | Title of someone ruling during the absence of a country's monarch (6) |
| STOOPS | Sitting spots, in the absence of a porch |
| MISSAL | Notice the absence of a large book? |
| MISCHIEF | Perverse behaviour ___ feel the absence of a leader, we hear (8) |
| NOTED | Celebrated the absence of a dandyish adolescent (5) |
